1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor device package and a sealing apparatus and method therefor and, more particularly, to a system for hermetic sealing of a semiconductor device chip together with an inert gas in a package body upon adhesion of a lid to the package body with an adhesive.
2. Related Background Art
A semiconductor device package generally comprises a rectangular package body and a rectangular lid adhered thereto. In a conventional semiconductor device package, an adhesive is applied to an adhesion layer (plating layer) of a package body, a lid is urged against a package body while the entire structure is being heated to perform an adhesion operation. By this operation, hermetic sealing of the package body can be achieved, and the semiconductor device chip is sealed in the package. In this case, a sealing solder is generally used as an adhesive.
The hermetic sealing of the package is performed to protect semiconductor device chips from contamination sources (e.g., dust, chemicals, gases, and humidity), which adversely affect the semiconductor device chip, and from mechanical damage. Each semiconductor device chip must be, therefore, sealed in a package with an inert gas and must be protected by the inert gas.
In a conventional method of adhering a lid with an adhesive while being heated under pressure, voids tend to be left in a hermetic seal portion, as an overlapping portion between the lid and the plating layer (adhesion layer) of the package body. A sealed gas inside the package tends to leak through the seal portion, thus causing sealing defects.
The width of the seal portion must be minimized in consideration of swelling of the adhesive. In a recent compact package in which a LN (Low-Noise) FET or the like is mounted, the seal portion is getting short. For this reason, seal portion defects tend to occur frequently and become a cause for decreasing semiconductor device product yields.